Sorry this is a little late!
I am still sitting here in disbelief that is has been a year since the quads were born. And we're still alive to tell about it. HA! We had a great party for them, as you all know from the previous post, we did a monkey theme. Let me tell you how hard this was to find stuff to decorate with. So, I had to result to making some of the decorations. I made their birthday banner out of monkey & colored card stock. Then we hung it above the fireplace. I made their birrthday hats, out of monkey material, pom-poms & rhinestones for Ellas. I bought an oval glass dish, and filled it with green M&M's and stuck monkey face suckers in it. I did however find some cute monkey's hanging from palm trees. I just placed them is different places around the house. I also found monkey's hanging from palm tree sticks, so I made a fruit bouquet. I stuck them in a green pail I found from the dollar spot at Target. Last but not least, I made the cake, and their individual cakes. I totally hated how theirs turned out, and to be honest I really didn't love the big cake, but it worked. We rented a moon walk for the big kids to have something to do, and the babies just loved on all the family and friends that were there. We did hotdogs and finger foods, since the party was at 2 in the afternoon. You should have seen them with all of the presents, they were so excited to be able to have so many bows, tissue paper and wrapping paper to chose from to eat. They loved it! Then came one of my favorite parts of all, with the help of two friends, we put a DVD together of their first year, no one knew about it. They loved it, of course they could have rung my neck for making them cry, but it was a happy cry, I am so glad I have that DVD. It took along time to put together but so worth it. Ah yes, my other favorite part of the party. CAKE!!!!!!!!!! They dove right in! Casen was such a cake hog, he tried to steal Cooper and Ella's every chance he got. Ella loved it as did Cole. Cooper is not a huge sweets fan, so he made hair products out of his cake and icing.HA! After the fun with the cake, we quickly gave them a bath and their bottle. They hung out for a while, but they were so tired they crashed at 5:45 PM and never woke up! Happy Birthday to my sweet angels!
WOW! I can't believe how fast this year has come and gone. One year ago today, I was just getting ready to order breakfast, when out of NO WHERE, I felt this piercing pain in my upper right side. I remember at first thinking that Cooper was just pushing on my ribs. WRONG!!!! It seemed to get worse every breath I took. I managed to crawl up the bed to push the nurse button. I was in such pain, I could barely speak. In seconds, Maggie (mine & the quads Angel) came into my room, for what would be the last time she would care for me in Anti-partum. Of course I didn't know that at the time. She tried to get me hooked up to the monitor to see if it was contractions, but already having a baby before, I KNEW it wasn't contractions. She pushed the button to call for some help. She then looked at me eye to eye and very calmly said, "Brandy, I have been a L&D nurse long enough to know that something is wrong, I am paging Dr. Reiter 911". She then says again very calmly, "You need to get your cell phone, we are taking you in your bed to the ultrasound room to check for heartbeats only, and then you are probably having some babies". I did exactly that, but I had actually already called my mom and told her to get Jeremy up, who by the way had just come off of working the 12 hr night shift. I told her for them to get up to the hospital ASAP, something was wrong, and I thought I would be having the babies. They wheeled me into the smallest US room ever, and Dr. Reiter came running in, ripped the WHOLE top of the US jelly and dumped the bottle of jelly on my stomach. He looked at me and said, "I am just checking for 4 heartbeats, and maybe try to see what is causing the pain. I still at this point was in excruciating pain. I stayed very calm, and I called Tammie and told her she needed to pray, something was wrong, and I was probably having the babies. Dr. Reiter announced 1, 2, 3, & 4, yes, we have 4 heartbeats. Brandy is this where the pain is? Yes, I said. He then says to me, "How fast can Jeremy get up here?" "We need to take the babies NOW"! Baby C, which was Cooper, placenta is tearing off the wall, if we don't get him out, he will die! Then the hustle and bustle began. This TINY roomed was filled with L&D nurses, anesthesia, OR nurses, Maggie, & Dr. Reiter, along with Dr. Adams. They started prepping me for an emergency C-section. Everyone was asking me questions at the same time, and all along the while I am still on my cell phone with my mom and Jeremy who were on there way. The anesthesiologist, says we are going to try and give you an epidural, but if it doesn't work we will have to put you to sleep. I turned over and sat up in the bed and said these exact words to him" Let me tell you something, I have fought a long hard battle to get these babies this far, I absolutely will not be put to sleep, so you better get the best you have on staff to get the epidural done right and make it work, you got it?'" I then laid back down and his reply, "Yes we will make sure we do that" That is exactly what happened, I was rushed to an OR, and trying to get my camera ready and still on my cell phone for the big day. They took me into the OR, got the epidural in right away, and they were trying to keep monitoring Cooper's heart rate. The nurse then yells, "I can't pick up the heartbeat for the baby anymore, Dr. Reiter looks at me and says I can't wait any longer for Jeremy, I am starting now. At the very moment he began to cut me, Jeremy was rushed in and was right by my side for the whole thing. At 9:36, we welcomed Ella & Cole, 9:37 Cooper, and 9:39 Casen was born. They were born at 28 wks 5days. I remember the moment that I heard I had to leave my older kids at home, and stay in the hospital until delivery, because I lived so far from the hospital. I was so sad to leave them, but on April 2, at 7:30am, I knew why God had that plan for me and the babies & why I was in the hospital, because had I not been there, Cooper's placenta would have probably completely abrupted and we would have lost him. It was truly a miracle from the conception of 4 babies to the birth of 4 healthy babies. Yes, we had the NICU roller coaster ride, but to have been so blessed to have 4 healthy, beautiful babies. We couldn't be more blessed that GOD chose us to be their parents. Do you believe in miracles? We DO! We couldn't have done it this year without the support & love from our family and friends, we love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 
Ella 2lbs 0oz
Ella 18lbs 6oz
Cole 2lbs 7oz
Cole 17lbs 9oz
Cooper 2lbs 1oz
Casen 2lbs 7oz
Casen 17lbs 6oz
